EDDY CURRENT ARRAYSA major leap for reliable measurements over conventional surface NDT methods used in aerospace industry.

EDDY CURRENT ARRAYSA major leap for reliable measurements over conventional surface NDT methods used in aerospace industry.

RENEE PICCITTO

Summary

• Traditional Methods – Advantages and limitations• ECT – Basics• Single Element ECT – Advantages and limitations• ECA VS ECT

– How can ECA help the aerospace industry• Reliability, repeatability, automation, customization, data recording, etc.

– Some examples of application where ECA brought inspection to the next level

Traditional Methods

• Penetrant Testing and Magnetic Testing– Surface breaking cracks– Cheap, easy to apply, quick to analyse, high sensitivity and resolution– No depth estimation, requires surface preparation and chemicals, limited reporting, operator

dependent

• X-Ray• Visual

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ECT - A FIRST STEP

ECT Basics: ECT Principles

• Disruptions of the induced current in a conductive metal

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ECT – Single element probes

• ECT can be used for:– Part’s condition (corrosion, cracking, etc.)– Coating thickness monitoring– Material sorting

• Advantages over traditional methods:– Faster– Data recording– Less than traditional technique, but still highly operator dependant– No or few surface preparation

ECA – A MAJOR LEAP

ECA – How it works• ECA uses same technical principles than ECT

– Measures the disruption of the induced current into the conductive material

• Only, it is done with an array of elements, which are activated according to a specific sequence– Provide multiple measurement per second– Sequence is designed according to material under test, flaws

to be detected, etc. optimized– The capacity to detect submillimeter cracks and flaws up to 10

thou/250μm in size– Up to 256 channels, in fully optimized configurations (# of

coils/channels will depend on the topology used – Imp. Absolute, transmit/receive, etc.)

– A scan speed of up to 24 in/sec (up to 600 mm/s)

ECA – Advantages

• Larger coverage – shorter inspection time• Improvement and simplification of the analysis

process using the C-scan imaging and ongoingdevelopment of new software tool to ease the analysis

• Capability to design dedicated sensors for complexgeometry

• Easier integration in automated systems

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VS

ECA – High level of customization available

• Advances in electronics enabled tailoring probes to specificapplications– Tailored coil designs and multiplexing patterns– Optimization of the acquisition chain– Advanced data processing– State of the art imaging– Data archiving

• Dedicated mechanical designs– Complex geometry– Hard to reach area

ECA in the aerospace industry

• Which inspection could be optimized?– Wings– Wheels– Rivets– Fuselage– Engine blades and blade’s roots– Dovetails– Landing gear shaft– Etc.

Example of applications

• Automated inspection - The robot select and connect the right probe to: – Measure conductivity changes in

casted wingsor– Detect flaws in aluminum casted

wings with ribs• Inspection of the area between the ribs

(variable geometry) and staticmeasurements on the ribs themselves.

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Example of applications

• Detection of cracks in riveted 2 or 3 layer aluminum stacking– Inspection from the top face of the 2.2mm layer– Cracks located in the 2.0mm layer, in rivet #1 and 4)

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Example of applications

• Detecting incomplete penetration along the axis of FSW and other defects.– IP in this application are 1.5–2mm (0.06–0.08 in) long, while the FSWs are

9.1m (30 ft) long.– FSWs are also prone to: • Short axial and transverse cracking • Axial and

transverse cracking in concavities from overgrinding– The Solution? A high-resolution probe with enough ECA channels to

reliably detect very small incomplete penetration– The Benefits Significantly faster and more reliable detection than with

previous inspection methods, without surface preparation in a single pass.– This solution takes the four-and-half-day PT inspection down to a fully

documented six-hour inspection replacing both PT and PA UT.

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Example of applications• Detecting incomplete penetration along the axis of FSW and other defects.

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Example of application

• Dovetails and turbine blade’s roots

20mm

27mm

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